The present invention refers to a dispenser for rolls of web-shaped material, such as paper and nonwoven, said dispenser comprising a housing having at its bottom part an outlet opening for the web-shaped material and said housing having space for at least two rolls arranged substantially horizontally. A first part of the space is located adjacent the outlet opening and is intended for a first roll in a use position and a second part of the space is a locking device intended to keep the second roll in standby position said first part is provided with holding means for keeping the first roll in use position, said holding means is spring-loaded and cooperates with the locking means in such a way that when a roll is located in place in the first space the locking means prevents the standby roll from falling down, but when the roll is removed from the first space the locking means will be released and permit the standby roll to fall down to use position in the first space.
Dispensers of this kind, e g for toilet paper rolls, are intended for two or more rolls, at which one roll is in use position and the other roll(-s) is/are in standby position and is/are transferred to use position when the first roll is used up and its empty core has been removed from the dispenser.
A plurality of dispensers of this kind are previously known. Thus U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,295 discloses a toilet paper dispenser in which the rolls are each threaded on a wooden rod which runs in the dispenser wall and can be suspended in a pendulum mechanism. When changing rolls the user pushes a bar on the pendulum mechanism backwards so that on one hand the core and wooden rod of the lower roll are released and on the other hand the roll above can fall down into use position for dispensing paper. This dispenser thus requires special wooden rods for the suspension of the rolls in the dispenser.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,657 there is disclosed a dispenser for two paper rolls, in which the lower roll slides freely against the bottom of the dispenser housing and a sloping rear edge thereof so that it is brought forwards to dispensing position towards a dispenser opening provided with a tearing edge. The upper roll is prevented from falling down by the upper part of a lever arm. When changing rolls the user presses on the lower part of the lever arm, which is designed as a pressure plate. The empty core is then pushed out through an opposed opening and the stop lug on the top of the lever arm is put aside so that the upper roll can fall down.
In EP-A-0,034,121 there is shown a paper dispenser for two or more rolls arranged on top of each other and where the roll which is located in use position adjacent the dispenser opening rest on a tilting plate. When the roll is used up the tilting plate can be brought to be tilted upwards by pushing a portion projecting from the dispenser opening, at which the empty core is pushed out through the dispenser opening and a locking device which keeps another roll in standby position is brought aside, at which the standby roll can fall down to use position.
CH 404 124 discloses a dispenser for two paper rolls, one of which is kept in use position between a pair of lever arms, which are springloaded towards each other so that the paper roll is squeezed therebetween. The other roll, the standby roll, is kept in place by a locking mechanism,, which is activated as long as the lever arms are pressed apart by a roll. When the empty roll is removed the lever arms will swing away from each other and release the lock mechanism, so that the standby roll will fall down into use position.
The object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser of the above mentioned kind in which the rolls are kept in place without the need of being threaded on special rods, which is easy to use without special instructions and where the standby roll automatically will fall down into use position when the core from a used up roll is removed from the dispenser. The roll should further be kept in a correct use position in the dispenser without exerting a squeezing effect. This has according to the invention been obtained by the fact that the holding means for holding the roll in use position comprises a vertically arranged disk plate having a flange intended to grip around one end of the roll and keep it in use position.
Further features of the invention are disclosed in the dependant claims and the description.